Toledo Ready for Mid-American Conference Championships

Thursday, May 11

KALAMAZOO, MI

TBA

University of Toledo

MAC Championship

Toledo Ready for Mid-American Conference Championships

5/9/2017 1:31:00 PM | Women's Track and Field

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TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo women's track and field team prepares itself for the Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships this week in Ypsilanti, Mich. on the campus of Eastern Michigan University. The meet will begin on Thursday, May 11 with the women's javelin at 2:00 p.m. and conclude on Saturday, May 13 with the awards ceremony at approximately 5:20 p.m.

"Our team looks pretty good going into the meet," said Toledo head coach Linh Nguyen. "We have 28 athletes going and this is the closest we have been to the 30-athlete roster limit. We have scoring chances across the board and we'll need to capitalize on those opportunities to score points in as many events as we can."

The Rockets will look to improve on last year's seventh-place finish in which they scored a team total of 46 points. Twenty-five of those points came in distance events. Toledo will look for the distance group to lead the team again this season.

Toledo has two automatic qualifiers in the 1,500-meters (Petronela Simiuc, Janelle Noe), two automatic qualifiers in the 5,000-meters (Joan Jepkirui, Caroline Lambert) and four AQ times in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (Athena Welsh, Zita Molnar, Stephanie Barlow, Olivia Chinn) this season. The Rockets also have three strong runners in the 10,000-meter run.

"We can only run three in an event at the MAC Championship," said Nguyen. "One of our steeplechasers will be an automatic qualifier and not be able to compete which is unfortunate. We're looking to get solid points out of our distance events."

UT will have its chances to score in the many of the weekend field events.

"Madeline Pacella is one of the best high jumpers in the conference," continued Nguyen. "Ty'Shai Freeman had a breakout indoor season and could score in the triple jump. Katie Dewey and Anna Bellman are right in the scoring mix for the discus, javelin, shot put and Madison Pierce in the long jump can score points if she jumps well."

After the conference championships, the Rockets will turn their attention toward the national events. Toledo has three athletes that have qualified for the NCAA East Regionals and another three athletes on the brink of punching their ticket to Lexington, Ky.